An Outlet: Part 7

7 August, 2019.

Four more PD48 contestants made their debut today, three of them being in one group! Doah debuted with FANATICS. I don't really like the song but good for her. As for the other three, they debuted in Woollim Entertainment's new girl group Rocket Punch. I hadn't been able to see much from two of them because they were eliminated very early on the show but guess who the third girl is? Takahashi Juri!

Juri was a prominent member of AKB48 when she joined PD48 but graduated from the group soon after the survival show ended. She then joined the Korean agency and just debuted within a year! Woah, seems like she was set on entering the KPop scene.

Anyways, I'm really happy for her and the other two as well. Right now, I'm not the biggest fan of their debut song. It seems forgetful. But I have a feeling it might grow on me.

Rocket Punch are from the same agency as Eunbi and Chaewon so this is the second group after EVERGLOW to have hailed from the company who currently have their trainees/artists in IZ*ONE.

When IOI was formed, they had to make a comeback with only 7 out of 11 members because Jung Chaeyeon left temporarily to make a comeback with her pre-PD101 agency group while Yeonjung was added to her agency's newly debuted girl group. The other two, Sejeong and Mina left to debut in their agency's new girl group that included another popular PD101 contestant. The agencies wanted to use the IOI/PD101 members' popularity to attract people to their groups as well. It was only after IOI disbanded that Fantagio's Weki Meki and Pledis' PRISTIN debuted with Doyeon&Yoojung, and Nayong& Kulkyung respectively. Both of these groups include(d) members who had taken part in PD101 but had gotten eliminated.

This means that the non-IOI trainees from both these companies were completely ready but waited to debut until their IOI members were able to join them.

But the point to be noted here is that IOI's career lasted only from June'16 to Jan'17.

Unlike IOI, IZ*ONE members are not allowed to be part of any other group (to prevent clash of schedules). Currently, Hitomi, Sakura and Nako cannot perform as members of AKB48 or HKT48. None of the other members can debut with their agency groups the way Sejong and Mina did.

IZ*ONE's contract is for 2 and a half years. Had Yuehua and Woollim used the same strategy as Fantagio and Pledis, EVERGLOW and Rocket Punch would have not been able to debut until Mar'21.

From Yuehua and Woolim's POV: It was quite a daring move to debut their groups without the IZ*ONE members. IZ*ONE may not be at Wanna One's level of popularity yet but they are still doing extremely well. Fortunately, their gamble seems to have paid off cause EVERGLOW and Rocket Punch's debuts were well received, especially the former's.

From the current EVERGLOW and Rocket Punch member' POV: I think they were probably really happy to hear that they wouldn't have to wait for a long time to debut. Ultimately, it's every trainee's dream to debut and these girl got that fulfilled. It's an even better thing that their debuts didn't go unnoticed and seem to be doing well, despite not having IZ*ONE members.

From Yena, Eunbi and Chaewon's POV: Umm.. this one's actually tricky. It depends on whether the three planned to go solo or be in a group post IZ*ONE. If it's solo then everything's cool. Post IOI soloists seem to be doing better than the ones in groups anyways. Then again, they wouldn't have been able to decide that so soon after PD48 ended or IZ*ONE debuted. Cause, apart from skills, them going solo also depends on whether they're able to garner a fan following individually while still being with 11 others.

If they were meant to debut in a group then that's just unfortunate. They probably thought their companies would debut the groups after they got done with their IZ*ONE promotions, just like those IOI members but that didn't happen. Now if their agencies put them in the groups after Feb'21 (which isn't really uncommon in KPop), there's a high chance that these three will get some flak, especially if the groups' comebacks perform great as well. Some EVERGLOW and Rocket Punch fans might complain that these three are reaping the benefits of the original members' hard work. They might want the groups to have only 6 members and may not accept anyone new, especially someone who threatens to take the limelight away from the original members.

I obviously don't know what goes on behind the scenes but I hope everything turns out for the better. There is still a lot of time and until then, I'll enjoy everything IZ*ONE and the other groups have to offer.

Another major life incident happened today. My final year results came out. I freaked out when I learnt about it and had to calm myself down before I got around to seeing my result. This time, the marks were shown on a gazette copy (which meant anyone could see anyone's scores) so I had to find my name in that big ass list.

I found mine and..... I didn't meet my target. Sure, I got much better than last year and have probably topped my centre but it still hurt. My score, from the my University's standpoint is not bad but in general, it doesn't scream impressive. Especially since there a quite a few students from my college who scored more than me. I had worked hard dude, I had worked really hard.